It’s coming! Can’t you just feel it in the air? It’s the big one – the major disconnect, the deep trouble looming on the horizon for John and Evangeline.

Let me set the scenario as it currently stands. We have John McBain hot on the trail of the Killing Club serial killer. There have already been three murders committed by this psychopath – one of which was a mistaken identity thing with the killer actually trying to kill someone else. Of course this someone else just happens to be the girl who’s got her cap set for our Lieutenant McBain, regardless of how many times he’s told her that he’s not interested. Meanwhile on the other side, we’ve got Evangeline Williamson the perfectionist who took a major hit when the verdict in the custody case went against her friend Antonio Vega – at least for another six months. Evangeline is also feeling helpless where her friend Nora is concerned because during this, what is probably the most trying and difficult time of Nora’s life, there is nothing that Evangeline can do to help her. So what we’ve got is a John who’s off into his own thing and an Evangeline who’s off into hers. Recipe for trouble, I’m thinking.

Into the void sails the girl I mentioned before. Being the rocket scientist she has always been – selfless to a fault - she sees the Killing Club situation not as a series of senseless and viciously premeditated murders of young people who’ve done nothing to deserve having their lives ripped away so abruptly. No, this girl sees the situation as the perfect opportunity to seduce Lieutenant McBain. And no, I will not get sidetracked into telling you what I think of this girl right now. As with the story of John and Evangeline, this girl is ultimately irrelevant.

What is relevant, though, is the fact that the powers that be, in their best damn-the-torpedoes-full-speed-ahead fashion, have set the table so that our super couple sits vulnerable to the machinations that this girl has brought to the party. She tried virtually stripping off her clothes in the office. She tried suggestive touching. She tried batting her eyes and sashaying around his desk. None of it worked. So she fell back on the old standby – playing on John’s need to protect her, offering herself in sacrifice to flush out the Killing Club murderer, no matter what John told her and no matter who else may be hurt. Now don’t get caught up in trying to figure out how the murderer knew she’d unexpectedly be at the diner that night helping her supposedly beloved mother-in-law in order to be close to John. Don’t lose any sleep over how the killer also knew what she was planning with Rex and made it his business to be on the scene there, too. Those story points make about as much sense as this girl does.

What we all need to key on here is the fact that we are being tested by the powers that be. Instead of shrinking away, instead of despairing and complaining to each other and wringing our hands and doing nothing, this is the time where we must be our most visible and our most vocal. We need to tell everyone within earshot that John and Evangeline belong together. They are the super couple. They are the story here. We need to let the folks in charge know that we insist that their story be told – in all of its complicated, adult, one-on-one glory. We want no more unnecessary side trips. We want no more distractions. We want to see John grow and move past his grief and into the arms of the woman who managed to make him feel again. We want to see Evangeline grow and move past her fears of commitment and into the arms of the man for whom she’s fallen so hard that she can’t even get up, as Nora so eloquently put it.

We have to let the powers that be know that we’re not about to be turned around by this painfully obvious and desperate attempt to keep three plates in the air when there should only be two. We want the powers that be to commit to telling the story of John and Evangeline – once and for all. We want the powers that be to commit to giving Michael Easton and Renee Elise Goldsberry the dialogue, the settings, and the space to tell this story to us as only THEY can – tenderly, emotionally, satisfyingly, and beautifully. That’s the message that we need to send to One Life to Live, the soap mags, the executive producer, the directors, the writers, and the head of ABC Daytime. We need to tell them in each and every way we can think of – over and over again. And when we think we’ve said it too often, we need to say it some more – until it gets through.

And in the middle of it all, we must remember to send boatloads of heartfelt thank yous to Michael and Renee, for bringing this wonderful story to life for us all – for taking us all along on this splendid ride called the story of John McBain and Evangeline Williamson.

So when the inevitable comes, appreciate the performances because our twosome will surely sell it big. Keep those tissues handy. Keep your nearest J&E support buddy on speed dial and remember to watch your language when the girl is onscreen, particularly if there are any minors or others with sensitive ears in the vicinity. But when all of those moments have passed, after you’ve written that thank you note to Michael and Renee for another incredibly moving scene or series of scenes, pick up that pen or go to your computer and dash off a letter to the powers that be, pick up the telephone again and dial 1-212-456-3338 to let the One Life to Live comment line know how much you adore John and Evangeline/Michael and Renee, contact one or all of the soap mags to let them know the very same thing. Don’t get sucked into wasting words on what you don’t want to see, squandering valuable time and space in a negative and defensive posture. That won’t do any good. Just be clear and precise about what it is you do want to see.

But most important of all, do not give in! Do not fall for it! Stay the course!

To again paraphrase Nora Buchanan, the best is surely yet to come for John and Evangeline. And not only do we not want to miss a minute of it.

We do not intend to stop until we get it – period, end-of-story!